Individuals often use baby cribs as a way of keeping a child safe when the child is sleeping. Like an adult bed, a baby crib includes a frame that includes a generally horizontally disposed mattress frame having an upper surface upon which a mattress rests. A headboard is connected at one end of the mattress frame, and a footboard is connected at the other end of the mattress frame. Also similar to an adult bed, the mattress is often overlain with sheets, blankets, and other accessories that may be primarily decorative in nature.
However, a crib differs substantially from a normal adult bed in other important respects. One way in which they differ is that a crib is often designed to have the mattress elevated at a level that is substantially higher than a normal bed, in order to make it easier for a parent to attend to a baby sleeping in the crib. Another difference is that both the headboard and footboard of a crib usually extend upwardly to a position substantially above the top of a mattress surface. This feature is provided for serving as a barrier, for preventing the baby within the crib for falling out of the crib.
Another important difference between an adult bed and the crib, is that a crib will often have side rails that, similar to the headboard and footboard, extend substantially above the level of the mattress. The distance to which the side rails, headboard and footboard extend above the level of the mattress is usually a matter of personal choice, and is often determined by the age and activity level of the child. For example, as newborns are generally immobile, the top of the rail may only extend a foot or so above the level of mattress. However, as toddlers are substantially more active, and have usually acquired sufficient mobility skills to pull themselves upright, a mattress will be positioned to have its upper surface often placed at a level of 18 to 30 inches below the upper surface of a rail, to prevent the toddler from injuring himself. At this level, the side rails and headboards become a tall enough “fence” to keep the toddler from hoisting himself over the top of the rails and falling to the ground.
On many cribs, the side rails are slideable upwardly and downwardly, to facilitate the placement of a baby into the crib and the removal of the baby from the crib. Even though cribs often provide a safe place for a child to sleep that helps to prevent the child from becoming injured, room for improvement exists in helping to keep a child safe within a crib. One way that a child can become injured in a crib is by the child being caught between the mattress and the bed rails of the crib.
Many cribs currently on the market have vertical side rails that, as discussed above, help prevent the child from falling out the crib while sleeping. Unfortunately, most rail containing side rails are designed to have spaces between adjacent rails. A child's head, arms or legs can gain access to these spaces between the rails, and become caught therein. Additionally, children can have their head, arms or legs caught in the space that exists between the side edge of the mattress and the rails. Usually, the rails are made a fairly stiff and unyielding material, such as metal or wood, that may enable a child to become injured, should the child fall against them.
To overcome this problem, several persons have introduced and produced baby crib bumpers. The purpose of these bumpers is to help prevent the baby from banging their head against the rail and then becoming injured. Additionally, bumpers are usually designed to help prohibit the child from being able to put his head, arms and/or legs through the spaces between the rails. Most prior art bumpers known to Applicant are typically anchored to the rails with ties, that can be tied around the rails. Unfortunately, many of these bumpers suffer the drawback of not being able to be securely positioned. As such, the bumpers often can move, to thereby allow an access space between the mattress and the underside of the bumper pad. Additionally, many bumper pads do not fit properly, thus increasing the possibility that the child can place his hand, arm or leg in the space between the mattress and the bumper pad, to thereby injure himself, or permit his arm or hand to be caught between the mattress and the rail.
Other baby crib bumpers of which the Applicant is aware are designed so that the bumper pad is affixed to the crib itself by a plurality of fasteners, as opposed to being affixed to the mattress within the crib. Although this type of bumper pad has the advantage of enabling the parent to change the baby crib sheet without having to remove the bumper pad, it creates a new set of problems since the multiple fasteners have the propensity to increase the risk of choking, should the child be able to access one of the many fasteners. Additionally, crib bumpers of this type often require multiple steps to position the bumper properly within the mattress, and may require the use of an additional padded sheet.
Still other baby crib bumpers known to the Applicant are attached to a fitted sheet, that then fits into the crib over the mattress. The problem created by these types of bumper pads, is that since the baby bumper pad is manufactured as an integral part of the fitted sheet, the bumper pad must be removed and washed whenever the fitted sheet requires laundering.
An additional disadvantage of this type of bumper pad is that it limits the decorative choices of the parent, since the crib sheet used by the parent must be the one that accompanies the bumper. As such, a parent cannot choose to use a separate type fitted sheet without foregoing the use of the bumper pad.
Although the above described bumper pads, in many cases, serve their intended functions well, room for improvement exists. In particular, room for improvement exists in providing a baby bumper pad that securely attaches to a crib mattress in a way that securely positions the bumper pad in the crib. Additionally, room for improvement exists in providing a baby bumper pad that reduces the ability of the baby to get its arm, leg or head caught in the rail, or in the space between one of the side and/or head rails and the mattress. Still another area in which room for improvement exists is in providing a bed sheet that can be securely attached to a crib mattress without being an integral part thereof, so as to afford the user greater flexibility in choosing sheets, without the need to purchase integral bumpers; and to be able to change and launder sheets without also being required to launder the attached bumper.
It is therefore one object of the present invention to provide a baby bumper that improves over the known prior art, and addresses one or more of the issues discussed above.